diff --git a/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/propertyeditors/PathEditor.java b/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/propertyeditors/PathEditor.java
index 13226e6ca0d..70eb403d6a3 100644
--- a/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/propertyeditors/PathEditor.java
+++ b/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/propertyeditors/PathEditor.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2022 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2023 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -78,8 +78,10 @@ public class PathEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport {
 		if (nioPathCandidate && !text.startsWith("/")) {
 			try {
 				URI uri = ResourceUtils.toURI(text);
-				if (uri.getScheme() != null) {
-					nioPathCandidate = false;
+				String scheme = uri.getScheme();
+				if (scheme != null) {
+					// No NIO candidate except for "C:" style drive letters
+					nioPathCandidate = (scheme.length() == 1);
 					// Let's try NIO file system providers via Paths.get(URI)
 					setValue(Paths.get(uri).normalize());
 					return;
@@ -109,7 +111,8 @@ public class PathEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport {
 				setValue(resource.getFile().toPath());
 			}
 			catch (IOException ex) {
-				throw new IllegalArgumentException("Failed to retrieve file for " + resource, ex);
+				throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+						"Could not retrieve file for " + resource + ": " + ex.getMessage());
 			}
 		}
 	}